Thursday, March 15, 2012

Why, oh Why, Can't They Play Nice? Tag Bootcamp.

I took the firsties outside during second recess to teach them (again) about good sportsmanship. Never seen anything like it, this level of competitiveness and demands for being "fair". My class had been banned from playing basketball, football and tag during recess. I had a little epiphany today - I can teach them how to read, I can teach them math, and I can teach them to be good sports. It was like bootcamp out there today. If only I had some fatigues and one of those whistles like Captain Von Trapp.

It worked. We had 20 very successful minutes of different tag games with only 3 bouts of tears, no cries of "unfair!!", no stomping feet or throwing of objects. I only had to get cross with one student for pouting and one for arguing. Success!

Never seen a group this competitive. Can you imagine the potential if all that energy was put into good sportsmanship? They would be unstoppable.

6 comments:

We have two recesses. First recess is lunch. The kids go out for 20-25 minutes before they eat lunch. We used to do lunch first, but I love having recess first now. The kids aren't rushing to eat so they can get outside. Second recess is in the afternoon, and lasts 20 minutes. It is right before snack.

I totally get it. Gosh, my kids are SO bad outside, too, during both recess and P.E.! Third graders.

They're not allowed to play football either. Maybe if someone had organized events for them to play (i.e., what P.E. is supposed to be! The E does stand for education!), we would have less time to beat each other up!! I think it upsets me more than anything else that I have to spend ten minutes daily after PE trying to sort out what happened, when they have coaches!!! Aarrrgh.

That's awful! Our P.E. teacher is the best. She really is completely and totally awesome. My firsties are just that bad with sportsmanship. Every fall 2-3 grade has a football bootcamp, and at the end they have to sign a contract that hangs in the wall. They can still be stinkers, though. Chrissy, I HATE having to sort out post-recess drama.

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Do you walk, fly or swim?

I am a fourth grade teacher, loving the change after four years as a first grade teacher. I love firsties, but I am having a ball with my Fab 4s! I am an idea junkie, a Pinterest addict, and techie geek. I make a lot of mistakes and love to learn. Teaching is my heart. I love glitter, i-anything, green things that grow, the smell of my daughters' hair, Dansko's and All Stars.